iKnow You're Not Carly
by OneHorseShay
Summary: It was suppose to be a relaxing evening for two friends before Spring Break 2014, but relaxing is a relative term when one of those friends is identical in appearance to a past love for the other. Megan Parker/Freddie Benson.


**Author's Note: This is a one-shot in appreciation for a fellow iCarly fan. I hope the rest of you enjoy it.**

iKnow You're Not Carly  
>By OneHorseShay<p>

Disclaimer: Don't Own, Don't Sue. For God sakes, don't sue.  
>Rating: TVGT Language /A little crude humor  
>Pairing: Megan ParkerFreddie Benson

Summary: It was suppose to be a relaxing evening for two friends before Spring Break 2014, but relaxing is a relative term when one of those friends is identical in appearance to a past love.

Just off UCLA Campus  
>Los Angeles, CA<br>Spring 2014

Freddie leaned forward with his palms holding him up against the kitchen counter as he watched the brunette go about her task of fixing dinner over the stovetop for the pair after a long week of classes and midterm exams at UCLA. He was the one that usually did the cooking if they shared a dinner that wasn't take out, but she insisted on trying to prepare a dinner for the two of them. The friends were going to have a nice relaxing (but simple) dinner to kickoff spring break of their sophomore year in her apartment just off the campus. It was a small little place meant for two, but she was able to have the apartment all to herself after convincing her roommate it was better for all that she should find another place. That had been just after school started and the owners of the apartment complex just couldn't get someone else for the second room and since she was so sweet they decided to just let her have it for half price since they thought it was meant to be that way. She thought in return that they were stupid boobs.

The brunette stirred the homemade soup with the large spoon as it simmered. She took a smaller spoon to dip out her first try of her cooking. Freddie smiled as she absently mindedly blew over the spoon before she took a sip. The slightly paled skin brunette smiled in triumph as she announced, "The soup is almost done."

He chuckled, "I'm glad, because I'm starving after that last exam."

She sighed with a hint of annoyance, "I told you that power bar was not going to be enough before class—"

Freddie sighed in return and rolled his eyes as he replied, "I know, I know, you were right and I was wrong. There's no reason to rub it in."

She gave him a slight frown. "You do know how to spoil a girl's fun."

He pushed himself of the counter and slid around the side to stand beside the brunette. He grinned as he rested his chin on her left shoulder and whisper to her in a conspiratorial manner, "You don't fool me for one moment Megan Parker. You don't get any pleasure out of my misery."

She turned her head slightly to bump her nose with his nose and whispered back, "No, I enjoy making any one that tries to make you miserable, miserable."

He grinned then gave her a peck on the cheek. "I guess everyone needs a hobby."

She snorted out a laugh and turned back to her soup as he pulled away. He turned to the cabinets behind her to open one up and grab some glasses for them. "I'll get us something to drink then I'll make us some sandwiches."

She asked with a raised eyebrow and a half of a smirk as she stirred the soup once more, "I thought I was making dinner?"

Freddie looked over his shoulder from the refrigerator and smirked at the brunette. "You are… I'm just helping out a little."

About ten minutes later, they took seats opposite from one another at the small round table in the corner of the common area living room. The TV was on in the background, but neither was paying attention to the program airing as they were just enjoying each other's company after the grueling week.

Megan took a quick sip of her soup then made a face as if she was ill when speaking, "My brothers want to hang out with us for a few days next week."

Freddie sat his spoon down back in his soup and sighed. He shook his head as he replied, "Josh is alright, but Drake… could one person be so full of himself?"

She rolled her eyes and let out a breath. "I don't know, but that's why it is so fun to bring the boob down whenever I get the chance."

Freddie snorted out and smirked. "Well, if I have to put up with them than—"

She raised an eyebrow and gave a playful and somewhat devious smile as she asked, "Do we have to?"

The brown eye twenty year old's brow furled as he asked in surprise, "What?"

Megan shrugged a shoulder and looked to her soup. "I know that we planned to just stay here for the break, but do you want to go back to Seattle and see your mom?" She cleared her throat then asked, "Or maybe Carly?"

Freddie let out a breath. _Seeing Carly_was a loaded phrase for the pair. Her appearance and voice took some time for Freddie to get use to when they met at student orientation about a year and a half ago because Megan could pass as Carly's identical twin quite easily and their voices were near identical; it was just that Megan used her 'I'm irritated' voice far more often than Carly. The resemblance and voice were so similar that when she found out about Carly, she insisted on speaking with General Shay to find out if he was her absentee biological father. However, he made it quite clear to her that he wasn't her father because if she was his daughter, neither he nor Taylor Shay would ever have given her up. (As in 'over his dead body and he would have taken as many of them to Hell with him before anyone would have taken her from them' Freddie remembered from the conversation.) The General may not have been her father, but Freddie realized that she respected him far more than she did her stepfather.

He replied as casually as possible, "If you want to go to Seattle, we can go. I don't have any problem with doing that, but you do know how my mother can behave."

She laughed as she thought on the last time she saw Mrs. Benson. "I know, but I'd rather put up with her than having to put up with those two. Besides, I know there are others you'd liked to catch up with."

Freddie shook his head and looked to his soup. "I don't have anyone else up there that I want to catch up with that's worth the expense to fly up. All my friends are here: you, Sinjin, Jade, Beck… _Cat_… André, Tori. I'm fine… Seattle just isn't as much of a home to me anymore." He glanced around the apartment and gave a genuine smile. "Ironically, this place has become like my second home."

Megan held back a smile at realizing how true that was as her couch had almost became his second bed over the course of their friendship. She also remembered how many times she would wake up in his arms in the morning on that couch when they would fall asleep together studying or just watching TV too late at night. She replied slowly and in a soft voice because he had dodged her question, "That's not entirely true… there is Carly."

He looked up and gave her a frown. In a slightly more than necessary firm voice, he replied, "I don't have any particular reason to see her or not see her. If I see her, I see her, if I don't, I don't."

She offered kindly, "She is your friend and she is more than that to you."

"In the looses sense of the word are we still friends," he replied dryly. "And that's being generous," he finished in a disgusted tone, "More? If you mean love, I haven't been in love with Carly Shay in a long time."

Megan looked down at her soup and wore a slight frown. It was a soft, but disbelieving whisper, "Whatever you say…"

Freddie looked up and stared straight at the brunette as he asked somewhat annoyed, "What's that suppose to mean?" A phrase he happened to inadvertently picked up from the redheaded actress over the years.

She lifted her head and tilted it slightly to the side to look at the annoyed young man. She replied in a somewhat flippant manner, "You know exactly what I mean. I don't believe you, but I'm trying to humor you so you don't feel guilty."

Freddie laid his spoon down and sat back in his seat. "What should I feel guilty about? She's the one that tried to push me onto Sam and to Hell with my feelings about it. She cared more about the damn Seddies' opinion than mine on whether I should be with Sam. I don't feel any guilt about rejecting Sam and I don't feel any guilt about what a joke our friendship's become because _she's _the one that pulled back from our friendship for me having the nerve to 'break Sam's heart'."

"I'm not talking about that; I'm talking about the guilt you pretend isn't there for being my friend."

Freddie's expression turned into one of complete confusion as he crossed his arms. "What are you talking about? What guilt about being your friend?"

She shook her head and looked down at her soup. "I don't want to talk about this right now."

He was becoming more puzzled at her sudden shift in behavior. "What's 'this'?

"Never mind, let's just enjoy our dinner," she whispered out then took a sip of her soup.

"Wait a second, you don't run from anything or brush anything off. I think we need to talk about this."

She shook her head and stated with an irritated tone, "No we're not. I'm not hungry anymore." She got up from her seat and started towards her bedroom. Freddie blinked for a moment as he realized what she was doing. He quickly got up and rushed to get in front of her before she reached her bedroom door. He caught her just before she reached her door and stated, "You don't brush me off, so why are you starting now? I don't brush you off."

Megan took a step forward and shouted, "Fine! You feel guilty that you just hang around because I look just like your _oh so one true love_ of your life that you can't get over!"

Freddie leaned forward and snorted out in disbelief, "I avoided _you_ for the first two weeks remember? _You're_ the _one_ that wouldn't stop following me around!"

She shook her head in disgust and frowned at him for a moment before shouting back, "We were in the same gen-ed classes and you're the only one in there with a brain! Who else was I going to talk to and have an intelligent conversation? Who else could I study with?"

"And here I thought it was my good looks and charm."

"Now who's full of himself?" she asked snidely.

He narrowed his gaze on the brunette as he asked, "If you thought that, why didn't you ever bring me down?"

She growled out, "Maybe I should."

Freddie laughed out loud. "Please Megan; you're not going to do that."

"And why not?"

"Because I'm your friend even though I've always seen through that act of yours and know what you're really like underneath. But what I've always wondered is what bothered you more: that I knew or that I don't care."

Megan took a deep breath through her noise and stared at him coldly. He knew if he was any other person (including her brother and step-brother) he would be in real trouble and should fear for his safety, but she never intimidated him. Maybe it was because the back of his mind would always associate her image with Carly's kindness or that he had just grown a thick skin from all of Sam's mess over the years or maybe because he knew she cared about him.

She clenched her fists and clenched her jaw shut tight for a moment. She growled out at first, but then shouted, "Boob!"

He frowned as well and shouted back, "Two-face!"

"Goody too shoes!"

"Sociopath!"

They held their angry stares until Megan reached up and caught his cheeks in her hands to pull him into a deep kiss. He blinked for a moment then closed his eyes and applied just as much pressure to her lips as he took her hips in his hands. In the back of each of their minds, they were surprised at how easily their lips merged to give and take in pressure and pleasure. She tasted different than Carly he realized, but she was just as sweet and surprisingly tender in her own way.

The brunette pulled back a few moments later with a grin on her face. However, once she opened her eyes and saw his uncertain ones look back at her, she realized what she had done and took a step backwards with her eyes wide opened and her mouth shut tight.

Freddie licked his lips then blinked as he looked at the equally shocked brunette. He then cleared his throat. "That was unexpected."

She raised a hand and placed it on her upper chest. She let out an unsteady breath. "I'm sorry that was—"

The brown eye college student gave her a half smirk as he replied, "That's the first time I've heard you use the words 'I'm sorry' and use them to say you're sorry for kissing me?"

She swallowed and looked down at the floor. She crossed her arms to hold herself as she took several deep breaths.

"What was that for?"

She shrugged a shoulder and continued to focus her attention towards the floor.

Freddie let out a breath and let his shoulders slump. He knew this was going to be one of those conversations. "Megan? You just… talk to me, please? Why did you kiss me?"

"I… I like you… more than just a friend."

"As in?"

"As in a guy that I would like to go out with, but I can't."

The former Tech-Producer raised an eyebrow. "Wait? Why can't you go out with me?"

She blinked and her brow furled as she looked up at him, "You know why."

"No, I don't, why?"

She snorted out in a huff and was boarding on talking to him as if he was as stupid as her brothers, "You don't and can't like me that—"

"Don't tell me how _I_feel! You're Megan, not Carly!" he snapped out suddenly feeling a surge of anger.

Megan swallowed as she saw the intensity of his eyes. As much as she was different and tried to make sure she carried herself so that there would be no misunderstanding that she was not Carly, she just made the same mistake the other brunette did almost three years ago: try to force Freddie to feel something he didn't feel for the sake of someone else or in this case, her. She felt a rarely felt sensation: regret. She took a deep breath and whispered, "I'm sorry Freddie. I shouldn't have said that to you, it's just—"

In a curt tone he asked, "What?"

She took a breath and stared into his eyes. She began hesitantly, but then shouted, "I… I don't want to be second best!"

It was if she had taken a needle and popped the balloon of his anger. The look in her eyes was oh so similar to Carly's when she was hurt or frightened, but there was something different in her eyes that separated her from Carly. He couldn't describe it in words, but more out of instinct he saw the slight differences: she wasn't accustomed to being hurt.

He gave a slight shake of his head and let out a tired breath. "I don't want to be a consolation prize either."

His response caused her to deepen her frown before responding in a defeated tone, "Well, that's what we would be to one another if you went out with me."

"No it wou—"

She balled her fists and shouted in a heated tone that he had rarely heard, "The hell it wouldn't! Look at me!"

Freddie cocked his head to the side unsure of what she was trying to prove, but he looked at her as if she was the only thing in the universe. He studied her familiar features that he had watched and admired over the last year and a half.

She pointed towards her face and shouted, "I have the same eyes, mouth, cheeks…" She grabbed a handful of her dark locks and shouted, "Hair!" She pointed at her chest as she continued, "Hell, I have the same boobs! A carbon copy made as a sick joke from some sick god! Maybe this is his way of paying me back for all the things I did to my brothers over the years: the guy I love will always see me as a pale imitation of the girl he really loves."

Those words sent a pain through his chest that he hadn't felt in a long time. He had never seen her that hurt and it broke his heart. He took the step forward and rested his palms on her shoulders then rested his forehead on hers. He looked straight into her intense brown eyes that she lifted to meet his eyes.

She took a calming breath as she looked at his reassuring eyes. She hated how compassionate his eyes would shine. She thought they were a sign a weakness, but she had been proven wrong time and time again with his strength… just like at this moment.

He spoke in barely above a whisper, "You're not a carbon copy. When I look into your eyes, see your cheeks, see your mouth… I don't see Carly, I see Megan Parker. I see the girl that has been my friend for almost the last two years. I see the girl who I can talk about electronics and the idea of searching for alien life on the computer as a great way to spend a Saturday night and not be made to feel stupid. I see the girl that puts up with all my nub ways. I see a girl that has never disregarded my feelings. I see the girl that is my best friend and that I love very much."

Megan blinked and she felt some moisture run down her cheek. She lifted a hand to feel what it was and wipe it away. She looked at her pads of her index and middle fingers that had caught the tears as if the concept of her having tears was a completely alien concept. "You're getting me all emotional."

He gently took the hand that had caught her tears and kissed the ends of her fingers then proceeded to kiss each of her teary cheeks. "Well, you know how to get me emotional and caring too."

Megan tried to swallow down that emotion then whispered out, "So… you really like me for… me?"

"Yes I do, I just never thought that you could like me that way. I mean, since I'm all nubby and all."

She gave him a wicked smirk. "Do you realize what a catch you would be for any lady? Handsome, kind… loving… all those silly romantic traits, but… you're real."

"No I don't, because every girl has been… wait… you've been scaring them off?" he asked in complete surprise.

She replied in a rarely used embarrassed smile, "Not on purpose?"

He sighed, but wore a warm smile. "At least I'm wanted."

She took a deep breath and replied with a hint of tribulation, "I want you."

The pair looked at each other eyes and studied each other's hesitation and indecision.

Freddie was the first to speak, "I guess I'm one lucky guy then to have such a great friend and… maybe something more."

"So… you want to be something… more? With me?"

"We like each other and we're friends and how could I turn down giving us a chance?"

"I don't want you to try because you feel obligated."

He rested his forehead back on to her forehead and palmed her shoulders again. "Loving you has never been an obligation and trying to see where we can go isn't one either. Maybe I didn't want to try at first either because I didn't want you to think I was seeing Carly instead of you. Maybe I wanted to make sure I was loving you for you and not because of your appearance."

She gave him a warm smile that he loved seeing on her face… her smile, not Carly's smile, which took a trained eye to see the difference. "I see Freddie Benson and you see Megan Parker… I think we're good."

"Yes we are, but…"

She narrowed her eyes on him and he could feel her brow tightening against his forehead. "But what?"

"I want to clear something up."

"And what is that?"

"When you were describing all your identical physical characteristics…" He gave her the biggest grin as he finished, "I think your boobs are cute."

Megan frowned which looked more like a pout.

"You brought it up and I saw you in a bathing suit last summer remember?" He arced an eyebrow up and clicked his tongue off the roof of his mouth. "You turned my head. I was hoping to see you in one during this spring break, but I don't stare. I promise. I'm your friend and that would be wrong."

"I ought to slap you for that," she hissed out, but lacked any of her normal venom.

He grinned then whispered, "Wouldn't you rather kiss me?"

She resisted rolling her eyes and instead tilted her head to the side slightly then gave him a wicked smirk. "Yes I would." She grabbed his cheeks and pulled him hard into a kiss.


End file.
